In the course of this new century, investigating connections between people of different cultures is integral to the formation of our individual identities, preparing students for a global job market, and represents a necessary part of the classroom if we are to remain viable in the global economy.

In order to better understand different cultures, educators must begin to create opportunities for conversations to occur across economic, ethnic, gender, racial, and geographic boundaries. This event, entitled International Coffee Hour, seeks to create conversations between American students and students from other countries. This event will be sponsored by Pitt-Titusville second year composition students, who are researching non-western cultures for their research papers. The event will feature guest speakers from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, who will discuss contemporary culture from their home countries and their struggles to negotiate American culture.

The goal of the event is to lead to a better understanding of the humanity that is often obscured by our cultural differences and lead to a more effective method for negotiating these differences.